National fraternity to local fraternity....

[lucgreek]

Originally Posted by CLG2010

It has to do with the fact that we feel we don't get anything out of our nationals. They treat small chapters like ours differently than larger chapters.

We don't care much about the idea of no other chapters and alumni. We take pride in our chapter and our letters as it has to do with our chapter, and could really care less about other chapters. I think that comes from the years we were a local fraternity.

What have you asked of your national organization that it has not provided you? How does it treat your chapter differently than other chapters. You said you don't care about other chapters or know about other chapters, so how would you know they are treated different?

Does your chapter teach about the national organization and its history during new member education, or is your new member education all about the local group? Do you have much contact with representatives from the national organization?

Like others have said, if you want to become a local again, make sure you can get insurance (most likely required by the school) and your school allows local groups still. Even if you try to become a student organization on campus, your school might still say no.

(Example: The KBG (non-NPC sorority) chapter at my school affiliated with KKG (NPC sorority). Alumni of KBG weren't happy and tried to recruit for a new KBG and were told non-NPC groups were not allowed on campus anymore, thus KBG has no chance of ever returning on campus)

[33girl]

Originally Posted by lucgreek

What have you asked of your national organization that it has not provided you? How does it treat your chapter differently than other chapters. You said you don't care about other chapters or know about other chapters, so how would you know they are treated different?

He said they don't care about having that network, not that they don't know anything about them, or haven't ever talked to them and compared notes. Not that you really have to do that - it's kind of blatant sometimes.

CLG2010 - I'll give you a quote from a sorority that was local, went national, and then turned local again. "One sister argued that the vote was not really to become a local, but whether or not to become a national, coming into compliance with the rules and expectations of the national we'd ignored for years." If you feel that your national is asking things of you that are unrealistic given the campus that you're on/Greek system you're in, that they aren't giving you support to try and accomplish those things, and that you'll always be the "black sheep" no matter what you do - make sure the school/alumni will support you and you can stay recognized, and then get out. It sounds as though your decision to become national in the first place was made under duress and for the wrong reasons (i.e. insurance purposes). Your hearts were never really in it.

Sidebar: I think there have been quite a few instances in the last few years of some fraternities expanding to smaller schools because Greek interest in general has been down. The problem is, some fraternities are quite homogenous in their chapters, and a group whose chapters are all, for example, in private church-affiliated schools in the Midwest who then colonizes a group at a commuter-heavy public college in Florida is going to have problems if they try to run that Florida chapter in the same way or expect the same things of them. It's not fair to the national fraternity or to the chapter.

[Firehouse]

1. I know of two local fraternities that have prospered within strong systems where every other chater was National: Adalente fraternity at Iowa State and KOT at Baylor.
2. If yours is a private school, they can require you to reamin the in IFC. If you are located at a public institution, then you can just be a student organization. Greek Life may try to bully you, but you are well within your rights.
3. National chapters going local is more common now than it used to be. Another recent phenomenon is chapters switching nationals! One example of that just happened on my campus where a TEP chapter petitioned IFC to switch to Alpha Delta Phi, and that change took place.
4. It would help us give you good advice if we knew your school and the national fraternity with which you are affiliated. I know something about the fraternities and they each have a different attitude.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by Firehouse

1. I know of two local fraternities that have prospered within strong systems where every other chater was National: Adalente fraternity at Iowa State and KOT at Baylor.
2. If yours is a private school, they can require you to reamin the in IFC. If you are located at a public institution, then you can just be a student organization. Greek Life may try to bully you, but you are well within your rights.
3. National chapters going local is more common now than it used to be. Another recent phenomenon is chapters switching nationals! One example of that just happened on my campus where a TEP chapter petitioned IFC to switch to Alpha Delta Phi, and that change took place.
4. It would help us give you good advice if we knew your school and the national fraternity with which you are affiliated. I know something about the fraternities and they each have a different attitude.

I didn't know that a chapter could do that (other than a merger between the two groups).

[33girl]

TEP is kind of over a barrel right now (although I think they're making their way out of it) so that's kind of an uncommon case.

[Firehouse]

I'll have to do some research but I know that it happens. It's generally kept quiet. Things have changed in the last twenty years. National fraternities drop their memberships in the National (North American) Inter-fraternity Conference and then re-join (mine did; I know of three others that did as well). It's not common but once in awhile, fraternity chapters switch allegiances.
It's not the same thing, but several years ago the SAEs got kicked off at Duke. The alumni were pissed off and they took the undergrads and became a chapter of Alpha Delt. Now the SAEs are back on campus and the Alpha Delts exist off campus.